13 September 2009

This weekend we went down to Whitewater State Park to spend a night in a camper cabin.

When I made the reservation, September 12 sounded like a nice, crisp fall weekend. Not exactly the case this weekend. But the muggy weather made for such a picturesque setting, with the haze and fog and everything shiny and wet, that we couldn't complain.

We went for a hike, and Emily and I quickly fell behind because I couldn't stop taking pictures.

She didn't mind.

The trees were just starting to think about what color to be. Dropping a few test leaves.

There are flowers growing in the middle of the river. It's like a paradise.

This is how Bella goes for a "hike." The Queen of the Nile. Brent says, "I don't mind carrying her!" She is going to wake up one day and be 16 and have to hike using her own legs and it is going to be a rude, rude shock.

Here she is using her legs to run around and terrorize wildflowers. We put these in a cup in the cabin. Very cozy.

See. Cozy, no?

The cabin had a handicap accessible fire-ring, which we are sitting at when I took that picture. Basically, handicap accessible means that it is like a 3.5 foot high ring--or, if you will, a burn barrel. Brent was highly amused when I would hunch over it and rub my hands together like a homeless person. "I want a picture of you like that!" (For his desk or what? "Here's my wife, we're camping and she's pretending to be homeless!")

I don't think Bella even saw the fire, since it was way up in the air.

We made BBQ Pineapple Spamburgers for supper (a la State Fair!) with sauteed portobellas and grapes. For dessert we had Archway Frosty Lemon cookies, which are the cookies my mom always brought camping when I was a kid. I was very excited to find them at Cub, since I thought they didn't exist anymore. You know, because I am so freakin' old and there's no way stuff from my childhood still exists.

Then we put the girls to bed and stayed up much too late drinking cool sparkly wine and playing Lost Cities in our cozy little cabin. It was the best.

In the morning, Emily Bea was up first ready for a bottle. So I quietly make a bottle and sit in the dark giving it to her. Bella hops out of bed next and, not seeing me and Emily, proceeds to unlock and open the front door and stroll out of the cabin into the dark morning. Um, holy crap, I'm glad she didn't do that in the middle of the night.

Time for some pancakes, don't you think, Emily?

I used the Batter BlasterTM that I had been interested in trying for a while now. I am always excited to try new pancake-related inventions. This one is like a reddi-whip can full of batter. And, I must say, it is awesome. AWE. SOME. I plan on never camping without it again. (Even though it is SIX BUCKS WHY IS IT SO EXPENSIVE)

Then, time for a little exploring.

We got to see a deer (super close up!), three turtles, a bird-banding demonstration, and this awesome mushroom, for which I made the whole family walk back for my camera. I think it was worth it.

It reminds me of me and Emily riding in her sling.

For the afternoon, we broke camp and headed over to Rochester to visit my parents, where Bella fell asleep for five hours. Emily fell asleep on my mom, who complained but loved every minute of it: "I'm trapped under this huge sleeping baby! Bring me a Coke with ice and a straw and the newspaper and some peanuts and a footstool!"

You'd like to be trapped by her too. Just look at how much she would love to trap you.

It was a great weekend, full of all the memory-making, laughs, and photo taking I so adore. This is what life should be like, don't you think?